Car-door control



Aug. 4, 1925.

G. E. OAKLEY CAR DOOR CONTROL Filed Maj 8. 1920 Y NQRN INVENTOR HTORHE .NNNTMHNS MEL .m r 0 1 NSQN Patented Aug. t, 1925.

hddt dll tdhll'lliil SKATES Ffir'lhl t'll GEORGE E. OAKLEY, OF ALBANY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CONSOLIDATED GAR-- HEATING- OOMPANY, 0F. ALBANY, NEVJ "I? A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

GAR-DOOR CONTROL.

Application filed May 8,

T 0 all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. OAKLEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Albany, in the county of Albany and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Door Controls, the following being a full, clear, and exact disclosure of the one form of my invention which I at present deem preferable.

For a detailed description of the present form of my invention, reference may be had to the following specification and to the ac companying drawing forming a part thereof, wherein Fig. l is an elementary diagram of the door wiring and Fig. 2 shows the full wiring for one directionof door movement on one side of the car, together with the. associated wiring for the buzzers and signals.

In the control of car doors on the so-called multiple-unit system it is at times desirable that one man should operate the doors of only two or three cars of the train, the rest of the cars being divided into similar groups or operating units each having its doors operated by one man. Of course, in that event it is necessary to employ for each group a train wire which will be of suitable length for the particular group to which it pertains and for that purpose the train wire or wires of the entire train will be interrupted at intervals to form the desired sections. It is also an old expedient in this art to transfer the action of one circuit to a succeeding circuit by means of a relay magnet, so that the two circuits remain electrically insulated although the action of one circuit is continued into the other through the relay magnet. I make use of these ex.

pedients by providing two relays on each car, either one of which may control the door-engine magnets of all the doors on one side of the car. These tworelays are located respectively in train wires entering the car from opposite ends. These train wires are thus permanently insulated from each other at this point and constitute the adjacent ends of sections extending into the next adjacent cars on each side. A doorman stationed at an intermediate point where he can operate switches in both of two adjoining sections will be able to control the doors in an adj a- 920. Serial No. 379,868.

cent car on either side of the car on which he is stationed and also the doors of his own car. By this means a doorman can control the doors of three cars constituting an operating unit of the train, he himself being stationed at the middle of the unit. The system is limited to threecar units, but it has the advantage that in making up the train, it is not necessary to open the train wire at each second, third, or fourth car according to the number of cars that may be selected as the operating unit, since it will be per I manently sectioned by my arrangement, the section-ends being permanently located at the middle of each car by the separation at the relays.

Referring to Fig. 1 which illustrates the elementary principle of my arrangement, three adjoining cars are shown therein, which constitute an operating unit. 13,13 and C, (I represent two train-wire sections extending from the middle of the center car to the middle of the next car on either side. A and D represent idle half-sections. It will be assumed that the doorman is stationed on the middle car and from that point is to operate the doors on all three cars. To distinguish the operating'car for purpose of description it may be designated as a sending car, the other two being receiving cars. The circuits on all cars will normally be set so that they will act as receiving cars, but when the doorman enters acar to use it as a sending car, he throws certain switches therein to set it for its sending function, and on leaving it again will set it back into receiving condition. Thus in the middle car switches X and Y are open, while switch Z is closed; but on the two end cars, switches X and Y are closed, while switch Z is open.

If now the doorman on the middle ear.

presses button 1, he will establish a circuit from battery H, by the closed switch Z to wire B, B, leadingto the rear (left) car and there it will pass, by the now closed switch Y, to the lower contacts of relay P, thence to relay K and ground. That will energize relay K which will in turn establish a separate circuit from battery H to magnet W and ground. The said magnet l/V here represents the door-engine-controlling magnet of a car door on this rear car; ordinarily there will be several doors and several magnets W iii of which the single one here shown is typical and representative. By this means the doorman on the middle car can close, or open, the doors on the rear car.

If he next presses button 8, he will establish a; circuit from battery H, through closed switch Z, as before, to the wire C, C, leading into the next car ahead whereit will pass through the now closed switch X to relay P and to ground. The relay P will thereupon act to close a separate local circuit from battery H, through its upper contacts to relay K and thence to ground and relay K- will act, just as in the rear car, to close a circuit from battery H to magnet and ground. Thus the doorman has operated the doors in the forward car (right).

If he finally presses button 2 he will energize magnet V of hisown car, the circuitgoing from battery H, by switch Z, as before, to contacts of button 2 and thence through magnet to ground. The switches X and Y are merely for the purpose of enabling the doorman to operate the doors on his own car separately from those on the other two cars. They may be omitted and the doors on the sending car put under the control ofbutton 1 or button 2; whichever button acted first would energize relay K at the sending as well as at the receiving car.

It willbe evident that it is the switch Z that establishes the battery connection for all three buttons, that switch being thereforeclosed at the sending car but open at the tworeceiving c'ars. ldoreover, it is the switch X that connects line C, G to the rela P on the forward receiving car, and switch Y that connects line B, B to the relay K01 1 the rear receiving can Hence those switches X and Y are closed at the receiving cars but open at the sending car.

At the rear receiving car, also, the circuit.

through acting relay K is separate from the circuit through relay P and does not atfect that relay, On' the other haird at the forward receiving car relay P is the acting relay and its circuit is separate from and does not affect relay K, except through the relay contacts which are in a separatelocal circuit that includes the relay K. Therefore thedoorman on themiddle' sendilig car canonly control thedoors on one car ahead and on one car behind in addition to the doors on his own car. His range of control can not reach into a second car ahead or a second car behind. In effect the train line sections are of but one-car length, al though lapping over the adjacent halves of two cars. These sections are isolated from each other on all three cars bythe relays, and on the sending car by the switches X and Y also. This operatingunit of three cars will be repeated throughout the train, the total number of cars being a multiple of three, e. g., nine cars. If a tenth car is added it will require an additional doorman. The setting-up switch, for putting the door circuits on any car in condition to act on a sending car, will involve only the contacts at X, Y and Z. It is, of course, an old practice in these multiple unit systems to provide such a setting-up switch for arranging the circuit-connections according to the sending or receiving function of any car inthe t are. For instance in the corn trol of the propelling motors, it is the car where the motorman is stationed that is thus set up to act as a sending car.

In Fig. 2a single car equipped for my system is shown in fuller detail together.

with certain associated circuits forsignalling purposes, one feature of which is to so arrange the door-closing signal that it will identify the sending cars by a light on the side of the car which will burn so long as the doors are closed.

At E is indicated the setting-up switch aforesaid including the individual switches X, Y, Z. Such switches are usually of the drum. type and in this figure the rectangles in full lines represent contact plates on the drum as they stand when the switch is set for a sending car, X and Y then being away from their respective line terminals and Z being engaged therewith, the dotted lines showing the position of these plates when set in the normal, receiving-car position. In this Fig. 2 the supply wires for battery H are distinguished by small crosses, and the train wires are in heavier lines. Obviously the closure of switch Z provides a battery connection for button switches 1; 2 and 3; the opening of switch X breaks the connection between line B and relay P, and the opening of switch vY breaks the connection between lineC and relay K. In Fig. 2 the button-switch 2 and relay K are provided with two contacts additional to the contact shown in Fig. 1, so as to deliver battery current to three door-engine magnets V5,

and TV, it being assumed that the rar' has three doers onone side of the car. Moreover, in 1 battery H is, for simplicity, indicated at each point where current is required, while in practice, a single battery is used with wires leading there from to each of said points, as shown in Fig. 2. Otherwise the showing off the doorcontrolling circuits is the same as in Fig. 1.

The door signal wire is shown at S. This is thekusual signal wire now in general rise which extends from end to end of the car passing in succession through contacts (5,

d (1 at each of the several doors, which contacts are opened by the doors when' they start to close. l vhen all the doors are shut the circuit of. this wire is" completed and the signal thereby given to the motorman to go ahead. I interpolate hi this wire, at each car, a relay M which becomes energized when the doors are all shut and thereby closes the circuit of two red lamps, one on each side of the ca r, at the middle side door in each sending car. This relay M is shown in Fig. 2 as connected to wire S between the points a and 6. Between said points a and b a shunt or by-pass connection for short-circuiting the interpolated relay M is provided which connection will be interrupted at each sending car but remain intact at each receiving car. Thereby when the signal circuit is completed. by the closing of all the doors the said relays M in said signal circuit will be short-circuited, by the shunt or bypass connection, at each receiving car when the said connection is intact, but will become energized at each sending car when the said connection is interrupted. For thus interrupting or leaving intact the aforesaid short-circuiting connection, setting-up switches are provided on each car, these being additional to the setting-up switch E which only serves for the door-controlling circuits. All of the settingup switches are to be operated manually by the operator upon entering and leaving the car which maybe selected as a sending car, and in some cases the switches E and F for one sid of the car may be operated together. In Fig. 2 I have shown two setting-up switches at F and G, one for each side of the car, at either one of which the short circuit around relay M can be broken when the switch is turned to set the apparatus into sending condition. Thus the aforesaid shortcircuiting connection for relay M starts at the point 6 and, after leaving point 1), goes to terminals 5 and 4 of setting-up switch G, which terminals engaged by plate V and thence to terminals 8 and 9 of setting-up switch F, which are shown as separated by the withdrawal therefrom of the plate V and thence to the point a. The opening of this circuit at points 8 and 9, obviously breaks the short-circuit around relay M. For the doors on the other side of the car, the control-circuits for which are not shown herein since they merely duplicate those which are shown, this short-circuit for relay M would be broken by setting-up switch G, instead of F which would remain closed. This arrangement removes from the signal wire S the resistance of all the relays M which are on the receiving cars, and also identifies the sending cars at which alone the lan'ips are lighted while the doors are closed. The contacts operated by the relay M establish. a connection from the battery to contactpoint 10 whence the current branches to the lamps L and L one on each side of and outside of th sending car at the middle door. lVhen any door of the series is open the lamps are extinguished. By this means each doorman and outside platform man will get the same signal as the motorman, and will know that the doors have been properly closed.

The buzzer signal, by which one doorman communicates with the next, employs the wire T. This wire is interrupted at each doormans station, either at terminals 11 and 12 and plate U on setting-up switch G or at terminals 6 and 7 and plate U on set-- ting-up switch F. Then it the doorman presses switch button 0 he will close a circuit from the battery to wire 14 and thence to wire T which extends unbroken through the two receiving cars at the left to the next sending car where it will operate the buzzer (Q in that car, going thence to ground. But it the doorman presses button 0 the current will go to wire 15 and thence by wire T through the cars to the right, and in the next sending car will operate buzzer Q}. While the pressing of button 0 will incidentally operate buzzer Q in the same car it is of no consequence because the operator knows that it is caused by his own action and that it is not a signal from the next operator ahead of him. The essential feature is that it will not operate buzzer in the same car, because the buzzer train-line T is now interrupted, either at contacts 11 and 12 of setting up switch G, if the apparatus on one side of the car is in use, or at contacts 6 and 7 of setting-up switch F it that on the other side of the car is in use. The current caused to flow by pressing button will pass, as heretofore stated, from the battery-wire to said button and thence by wire 15 to the buzzer train wire T. Thence it will go to the next car ahead (i. e. to the right in Figure 2). it can not go to the car behind because the line T is broken on this sending car by the switch F or the switch G. On the said car ahead the current will go, as will be seen at the left end of Fig. 2, to the setting-up switches F and G, which will be closed since this next car ahead is a receiving car. Incidentally it will operate both of the buzzers on that car, which is of no consequence, because it is a receiving car carrying no operator. From said switches F and lit will proceed, by wire T, to and through the second car ahead, which is also a receiving car, and thence to the third car ahead which is the next sending car. There it will enter, as at the left end of Fig. 2, by the wire '1' and operate the buzzer Q", but will not pass the setting-up switches F and G which will be open, and will therefore not operate buzzer Q Hence the operator on this next sending car will recognize the operation of his buzzer Q as a signal from the next operator in the rear. In precisely the same way the operator in the car of Fig. 2 can signal to the next operator behind him in the third car back. who will receive such signal on his buzzer Q while his buzzer Q} will not be affected because he has broken the line T at one of his setting-up switches F and G. By this means the doorinen can, as is now the practice, pass the door-closing signalfroai one to another through the train, although they are now three cars apart instead of one car apart.

For the doors on the one side of the car which is herein illustrated, the setting-up switches E and F will be used, while for the doors on the other side (not illustrated the switch G, together with a switch like IE, will be employed. Since such setting-up switches are old, for any combination of circuits which may be appropriate for putting a car in sending condition, I make no claim to them.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is l A train door'system comprising operating magnets for the door engines, two relay magnets on each car, either of which controls the same door-engine magnets and a train-line having sections extending into the same car and containing respectively the two relay magnets aforesaid.

2. A train door system comprising operating magnets for the door-engines, two relays 011 each car, either of which controls the same door-engine magnet, a train-line haw ing sections extending int-o the same car and containing respectively the two relays aforesaid, and operating switches for two of said sections located at their adjoining ends.

3. A train door system comprising control magnets for the door-engines of three cars which constitute an operating unit, trainwire sections extending from the middle car into each end car, operating switches for said sections located on the middle car, and two relays in each section located respectively on adjoining cars and each controlling the doorengines of the car in which it is located.

. i. A train door system comprising control magnets for the door-engines, a train-line permanently sectional at each car by relays either one oii which may operate the control magnets on one car, and operating switches for each of two sections at their adjacent ends.

5. A train door system comprising control magnets for the door engines a train-line permanently sectioned at each car by relays either one of which relays may operate the door magnets on one car, operating switches for each of two sections at their adjacent ends, and a third operating switch at the same point for separately operating the door magnets of the car on which the said switches are located.

6. A train door system comprising control magnets for the door-engine, two relay magnets one in each of two adjoining train-line sections both controlling the same door-engine magnet and contacts in the circuit of one relay magnet controlled by the other.

7. A. train door system comprising a series of control magnets for the several door engines, a sectional train-line for said magnets, operators switches for each train-line section, a signal at eachoperators station, a signal circuit containing contacts in series controlled by. the movement of the respective doors, signal-controlling relays in said circuit at each car and short-circuiting switches for the several relays.

Signed at Albany, county of Albany, State of New York, this 30th day of April, 1920. GEORGE E. OAKLEY. 

